Policy options to promote Chinese new energy vehicles consumption

Inspired by the green revolution, new energy vehicles (NEVs) provide a fresh, alternative mode of transportation for Chinese consumers that reduce their reliance on traditional, gasoline/diesel-based cars. However, despite strong government support for NEVs in China, the level of uptake by consumers remains slow. Using Shanghai as a case study, this article provides a much-needed insight into local consumers’ motivations to invest in NEVs through a survey of 100 Shanghai residents. Results indicate that current NEV promotion policies do not have a significant impact on the cognitive trade-off of NEV consumption under the “Integrated Consumer Behavior Model,” mainly due to inconvenient charging facilities, technical concerns regarding battery, higher prices, and wait-and-see attitudes regarding the pilot policy environment. Drawing on experiences from Sweden and New Zealand, this research serves to enhance knowledge on consumer attitudes towards NEVs and assist policy makers in developing more effective green consumption promotion campaigns in the future.     

The poverty of forestry policy: double standards on an uneven playing field

Can policies designed to maximize exploitation by elites benefit the people who live in forests? Forestry policy throughout the developing world originates from European “scientific” forestry traditions exported during the colonial period. These policies were implemented by foreign and local elite whose interest was to maximize and extract profit. In spite of reforms since the end of the colonial period, policies on the environment usually remain biased against rural communities. Even when more recent policies are fair, the rural poor face severe biases in implementation. In addition, they must compete on an uneven playing field of ethnic and other social inequities and economic hurdles. This article examines how forestry policy and implementation maintain double standards on this uneven playing field in a manner that permanently excludes the rural poor from the natural wealth around them—producing poverty in the process. Change that would support poverty alleviation for forest-based communities requires a radical rethinking of forest policy so as to counterbalance widespread regressive policies and structural asymmetries.     

Evaluating Consumer Understanding of the Swedish Meat Guide—A Multi-layered Environmental Information Tool Communicating Trade-offs When Choosing Food

To facilitate the choice of more sustainable animal-based products in the diet, a Swedish meat guide providing complex, multi-layered environmental information to non-experts has been developed. This study evaluated reception of this guide by consumers. In five focus groups, participants (“interested consumers”) carried out a joint environmental and animal welfare ranking assignment to test understanding and use of the guide. The type and detail of indicators (e.g. carbon footprint) in the meat guide suited the audience. The guide stimulated discussion on ethical issues and quality aspects of meat, revealed perceived obstacles to reducing meat consumption and provided an understanding that any food product chosen comes with trade-offs.     

Consumer willingness to pay for organic and locally grown produce on Dominica: insights into the potential for an “Organic Island”

With the intent of improving agricultural revenues and solidifying her place as an ecotourism destination, it has been proposed that the island nation of The Commonwealth of Dominica convert all agriculture to organic production. This study explores Dominica’s current and potential domestic demand for organic and/or “locally grown” produce. Surveys were conducted with Dominican consumers to assess their opinions and willingness to pay for these products, and evaluated using a maximum likelihood estimation procedure. On average, Dominican consumers are willing to pay 17.5 % more for organic, and 12 % more for locally grown, produce. These results were varied significantly across demographic segments of the sampled population, respondent tastes and preferences, the health status of their family, and the extent to which they were early adopters of new products. Despite several expected challenges of a successful transition to organic, implementation of this policy may offer a net positive welfare increase for Dominica’s permanent residents. Results from this analysis suggest that, from the perspective of domestic consumers, Dominica should continue to pursue the possibility of becoming an “Organic Island.”     

新能源汽车补贴政策工具挖掘及量化评价

现阶段中国大力开展新能源汽车示范推广工作,中央及各地方政府已相继出台一系列补贴政策。在严厉打击新能源汽车"骗补"及补贴政策重新调整等背景下,分析梳理现有政策从而对其进行整体把握与正确判断显得尤为重要,从而为政策改进与优化做准备。本文选取了截至2016年底国家和北京市颁布的涉及新能源汽车补贴的相关政策。首先,从采用文本挖掘的方法整理出的政策文本的高频有效关键词从中提炼出的政策工具,可分为供给型、需求型、环境型三类,分别从技术推动、市场拉动和环境支撑三个方面促进和规范新能源汽车市场。发现现有政策工具仍存在一些问题,如缺乏支持新能源汽车技术提升和产品开发的供给型政策工具;环境型政策工具的作用重点欠科学,对充电基础设施建设的重视程度不够;补贴过于聚焦新能源汽车购买环节等。其次,结合政策特点运用PMC指数模型构建了新能源汽车补贴政策的量化评价框架,通过变量分类、参数识别建立了多投入产出表,并通过PMC指数的测量、PMC曲面的生成综合反映政策各维度的情况。再次,采用实证分析的方法,选取3项新能源汽车补贴政策(P1、P2、P3)为研究对象,对政策进行量化评价。结果得出3项政策的PMC指数分别为7.52、6.95、6.21,均在良好的等级之内,P1政策的量化结果为优秀,P2、P3政策结果为良好,且具有较大的提升空间,可考虑在激励措施等方面予以加强。最后,根据新能源汽车补贴政策无法取得预期效果的原因,提出三点政策优化意见:(1)重视供给型政策工具的使用,加大新能源汽车科研资金投入;(2)环境型政策工具的作用重点应放在充电等基础设施的建设上;(3)需求型可考虑采取以公共交通带动私人交通的策略。     

中国城市矿产政策演化研究

城市矿产是工业化和城市化过程的产物,它是蕴藏于城市中有较高经济价值并可回收利用的二次资源,具有载能性、循环性、战略性。随着工业化、城镇化和消费持续升级,"垃圾围城"已然成为中国许多大中城市亟需解决的环境问题,严重阻碍中国的可持续发展。城市矿产变废为宝,能有效化解资源与环境双重约束。为此,中国政府先后出台一系列城市矿产产业政策以推动其快速发展。本文收集1987—2015年国家层面颁布的相关政策文件,在运用内容分析法对政策文本梳理、编码并统计计量的基础上,首先从颁布部门、数量、力度等方面对政策体系进行总体分析,然后构建并运用政策工具-政策作用环节两维度分析框架,探讨中国城市矿产政策体系的演化过程及发展特征。研究发现:(1)从政策发展历程分析,中国城市矿产政策体系经历了依附环境保护政策的孕育期、体系初建的形成期和效力深化的发展期。(2)从政策颁布维度分析,中国城市矿产政策颁布速度逐渐加快,力度逐渐增强,参与机构数量不断增多。(3)从政策工具维度分析,中国城市矿产政策体系以环境型政策为主,逐渐呈现出强化供给型政策的演化趋势。(4)从政策作用环节分析,中国城市矿产政策体系由重点关注回收、深加工环节向关注全产业链环节演变。最后,针对中国城市矿产政策体系演变特征与存在的不足,本文从以下三个方面提出了促进中国城市矿产产业发展的政策建议:一是加强部际联系,完善顶层设计;二是加强消费引导,完善需求型政策;三是立足产品全生命周期,健全产业政策体系。     

Advancing to a Circular Economy: three essential ingredients for a comprehensive policy mix

Material resources exploitation and the pressure on natural ecosystems have raised concerns over potential future resource risks and supply failures worldwide. Interest in the concept of Circular Economy has surged in recent years among policy makers and business actors. An increasing amount of literature touches upon the conceptualisation of Circular Economy, the development of ‘circular solutions’ and circular business models, and policies for a Circular Economy. However, relevant studies on resource efficiency policies mostly utilise a case-by-case or sector-by-sector approach and do not consider the systemic interdependencies of the underlying operational policy framework. In this contribution, a mapping of the existing resource policy framework in the European Union (EU) is undertaken, and used as a basis for identifying policy areas that have been less prominent in influencing material resource efficiency. Employing a life cycle approach, policies affecting material efficiency in the production and consumption stages of a product have been found to be poorly utilised so far in the EU. Taking this as a point of departure, three policy areas that can contribute to closing material loops and increasing resource efficiency are thoroughly discussed and their application challenges are highlighted. The three policy areas are: (1) policies for reuse, repair and remanufacturing; (2) green public procurement and innovation procurement; and (3) policies for improving secondary materials markets. Finally, a potential policy mix, including policy instruments from the three mentioned policy areas—together with policy mixing principles—is presented to outline a possible pathway for transitioning to Circular Economy policy making.     

Government intervention in green industries: lessons from the wind turbine and the organic food industries in Denmark

Government intervention in green infant industries may be justified as a strategy to increase the provision of public goods. How should government policies be designed to promote such industries? One way to analyse this question is to compare government intervention in green infant industries in which it has been successful with green infant industries in which it has been less successful. The Danish government has intervened intensively in the wind turbine industry and organic farming sector mainly for environmental reasons since 1992 and 1987, respectively, but with very different impacts. While the electricity market share of wind energy reached 20% in 2007, organic food consumption lags behind with a food market share of approximately 8.5% in 2007. This paper compares the packages of policy instruments applied in the two industrial sectors and assesses whether differences in instrument choice may explain the significant differences in market shares. It is demonstrated that government intervention in the wind turbine industry has emphasized the use of policy instruments designed to increase demand for wind energy, whereas organic farming policy has put more emphasis on instruments motivating farmers to increase supply. This may be an important factor explaining variance in growth. Finally, the paper analyses whether the lessons from government policy aimed at promoting the wind turbine industry can be transferred to organic farming policy.     

Dividing and Uniting Through Naming: The Case of North Carolina's Sea-Level-Rise Policy

Opponents of a proposed sea-level-rise policy in North Carolina, USA, reasoned rhetorically to promote a narrative claiming that the policy supporters’ efforts had failed to meet the criteria of “good” science and the American dream expectancy of “progress.” The critics worked to hinder policy adoption by naming as “villains” scientists who provided research to support the proposed policy. In addition, the opponents named their own efforts to prevent policy based on “bad” science that would “destroy” the American dream as “heroic.” To more effectively respond to such narratives, scientists and policy proponents need to shift away from reporting just climate change “facts” in the attempt to gain stakeholder support for mitigation and adaptation initiatives. They need to move toward reasoning rhetorically to construct narratives that encourage the public to name them as the “heroes” who will achieve the American dream by their actions to mitigate climate-change outcomes.     

Mainstreaming climate adaptation: taking stock about “what works” from empirical research worldwide

Adaptation to a changing climate is unavoidable. Mainstreaming climate adaptation objectives into existing policies, as opposed to developing dedicated adaptation policy, is widely advocated for public action. However, knowledge on what makes mainstreaming effective is scarce and fragmented. Against this background, this paper takes stock of peer-reviewed empirical analyses of climate adaptation mainstreaming, in order to assess current achievements and identify the critical factors that render mainstreaming effective. The results show that although in most cases adaptation policy outputs are identified, only in a minority of cases this translates into policy outcomes. This “implementation gap” is most strongly seen in developing countries. However, when it comes to the effectiveness of outcomes, we found no difference across countries. We conclude that more explicit definitions and unified frameworks for adaptation mainstreaming research are required to allow for future research syntheses and well-informed policy recommendations.

     

Normative Framing and Public Attitudes toward Biofuels Policies

Although the power of elite issue frames to shape public attitudes toward different policies is well established, the relative influence of different types of frames in competitive framing environments remains uncertain. For example, we do not fully understand the relative influence of economic versus normative frames on the public's policy attitudes, despite the common use of both types of frames to promote the same policy in many settings. Using data from a 2010 national Internet survey, this paper investigates the relative influence of economic versus normative frames on public attitudes toward the contentious policy issue of biofuels. The results indicate the importance of normative frames in shaping public attitudes on this issue, suggesting the relevance of normative frames more generally in shaping public opinion beyond the narrow confines of typical “morality” policies such as abortion or gambling.     

Assessment of irrigation system sustainability using the Theil–Sen estimator of slope of time series

Agriculture, especially the irrigated sector, is the mainstay of Sudan’s economy as it accounts for 40 % of gross domestic product (GDP) and employs 70 % of the workforce. The economic viability of irrigated schemes is dependent on three factors: crop yield, water management and cropped area. The research question of this study was whether or not the current status of these factors can be sustained in order to maintain the economic viability of irrigation systems? To answer this question, a new (to the best of the author’s knowledge) approach was developed based on time series analysis, and on the Theil–Sen estimator of slope. The study defined sustainability conceptually as “the ability of an irrigation system to sustain crop yields using the optimum cropped area and water consumption to realize the economic viability of the irrigation system without a decline in soil quality and environment”. Time series datasets of crop yields, cropped area and irrigation water consumption are collected routinely by statistical departments. Any abrupt years in the development of trends were detected and related to their driving forces/causes, of which climatic conditions and marketing policies were found to be the most important. The simple approach developed proved its suitability for quantifying the progress of irrigated schemes’ towards sustainability development as tested under the conditions of Gezira irrigated scheme in Sudan—the largest singly managed irrigation scheme in the world. The scheme was found to be sustainable under the condition that the crop yield is considered as the top priority; otherwise, the sustainability of the scheme is jeopardized.     

Policy Options for Sustainable Development in Urban Transport: Analysis of Energy Consumption and Environmental Benefit Influenced by Different Transport Policies in Beijing

Transportation is a sector with high energy consumption as well as high emissions. Generally speaking, economic growth will inevitably lead to the increase of travel demand and vehicle population, which in turn results into the augmentation of environmental and social costs. For metropolis like Beijing under rapid development, there exist various possibilities and options for transport development policy instruments. But there is no guarantee that they will be suitable for Beijing, although they are effective in their local places. This article assesses what kind of policy can most effectively improve the traffic conditions in Beijing in the future. After literature reviews on the practices of foreign policy and we established several feasible scenarios. Then, we used the Long Range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LREAP) analyzed their corresponding results of reduced energy consumption and emissions. Finally, by simulating and computing the realistic Beijing transportation scenarios, this paper scientifically assesses what kind of policy can most effectively improve the traffic condition in Beijing in the coming decade.     

Balancing the health benefits and environmental risks of pharmaceuticals: Diclofenac as an example

Pharmaceuticals are designed to improve human and animal health, but even the most beneficial pharmaceuticals might raise some questions concerning the consequences of exposure to non-target organisms. To illustrate this situation and using diclofenac as a case-study, we analyze global consumption and occurrence data to identify hot spots of consumption without occurrence data, review the scientific literature on the harmful environmental effects to determine whether the observed concentrations in freshwater are of environmental concern, summarize the current pharmaceutical and environmental policies to highlight policy gaps, and suggest a series of research and policy recommendations, which can be summarized as follows: we need to improve the current knowledge on occurrence in freshwaters to properly implement environmental policies (i), diclofenac might pose a risk to non-target organisms in freshwater (ii); the harmful effects that some pharmaceuticals may have on the environment are not always addressed by environmental policies (iii).     

Comparative study on consumption behaviors in private car markets between large and medium–small cities in China

With the economic development and the acceleration of motorization in China, the number of private cars increases rapidly in urban areas. However, the limit of urban resources and the contradiction between traffic supply and demand are increasingly prominent in large cities, while private car consumption has been a new “light” in medium and small cities. Consumers’ behaviors differ from region to region. Aiming at the above problems, we formulate structural equation modeling and carry out empirical research. In this paper, a comparative study about the main influential factors that affect the consumption of private cars in large and small cities in China is made, and it is hoped that some guidance for policy recommendations can be obtained.     

Research on the effects of command-and-control and market-oriented policy tools on China’s energy conservation and emissions reduction innovation

The impact of environmental regulation on technology innovation is a hot spot in current research where a large number of empirical studies are based on Porter Hypothesis (PH). However, there are still controversies in academia about the establishment of “weak” and “narrow” versions of PH. Based on the panel data of application for patent of energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER) technology of Chinese city scale during 2008–2014, comprehensive energy price, pollutant emission, etc., mixed regression model and systematic generalized method of moments method were adopted, respectively, to study the impact of market-oriented and command-and-control policy tool on China’s ECER technology innovation. The results show that the environmental regulation hindered the technological innovation in the immediate phase; however, it turned out to be positive in the first-lag phase. Hence, the establishment of “weak” PH is time-bounded. The command-and-control policy tool played a more positive role in promoting technological innovation in the first-lag phase than market-oriented policy tool. Therefore, “narrow” PH is not tenable. The reason is that the main participants of China’s ECER technology innovation are state-owned companies and public institutions. Regionally speaking, the impact which command-and-control policy tool has on technological innovation at sight was non-significant in the eastern, the central, and the western regions of China whilst market-oriented policy tool had a negative effect. And market-oriented policy tool in the central region had strongest negative effect, which would diminish in the eastern region and become weakest in the western region. This was related to regional energy consumption level and the market economic vitality.     

主体功能区环境政策体系构建初探

在分析主体功能区环境政策需求的基础上,从环境政策目标、政策手段、政策保障三个层面构建了主体功能区环境政策体系框架。初步确立了各类主体功能区环境政策的宏观目标及微观目标;重点研究了环境准入、污染控制、生态补偿、环境经济等政策措施;从环保绩效考核、环境信息公开、资金保障、法律保障等方面探讨了政策保障体系。本研究为进一步深入开展主体功能区环境政策研究奠定了基础,同时可以为开展主体功能区规划等工作提供参考。     

Reconstituting “America”: The Clean Energy Economy Ventriloquized

With the foregrounding of “clean energy” policies by climate change concerns, the rhetorical constitution of “America” as a collective subject, mobilized to adopt the clean energy economy (CEE), becomes crucial. Here, I analyze the constitutive rhetoric of Pew Charitable Trusts’ landmark 2009 report on the CEE, drawing from the ventriloqual perspective to communication. I argue that this approach provides a more pragmatic, conversational understanding of the interpellative process constituting “America,” noting it to be hybridized and composed of various human and nonhuman agents. Tracing the ingoing interaction among agents—some manifest in the text, others spectral—sheds light on the complex relations of power at stake, recognizes the open-ended possibilities (and restrictions) of agency, and the role of material structures shaping environmental communication and policy.     

Greenwashing Consumption: The Didactic Framing of ExxonMobil's Energy Solutions

Corporate advertising campaigns increasingly use environmental frames to promote their products and processes, many of which are neither sustainable nor environmentally friendly. This study examines ExxonMobil's recent efforts at green advertising, focusing specifically on their widely aired “Energy Solutions” television advertisements. We argue that ExxonMobil's use of a didactic, greenwashed frame stifles criticism and discourages examination of ideologies of consumption by exploiting the ethos of the scientist and highlighting technological solutions to problems that are deeply tied to a culture of consumerism. The definition of green energy is controlled by those with the power to generate persuasive public messages about the sources and production of energy. Counterframes, however, can be employed to turn a questioning eye upon the solutions advanced by ExxonMobil. We issue a call for green frames that help citizens and consumers critically examine the ecological integrity of all means of energy production, and that call attention to the ways in which the greenwashing of research and development initiatives can dissuade necessary action, including reduction of US energy consumption.     

China’s Grain for Green policy and farm dynamics: simulating household land-use responses

Analyzing the interaction between environmental policies and farmers’ responses to them is an important dimension to understand regional agro-ecosystem sustainability. We examine land-use outcomes of perhaps the largest government-planned rural reforestation program in the history of humankind, China’s “Grain for Green” (GFG) policy from 1999 to 2006. Specifically, we simulate household responses to the GFG policy in Western China’s Shaanxi Province, a region experiencing acute climate and land change-related environmental degradation. We develop a “farmer group decision-making model” to simulate the probability of land-use change. Elevation, slope, and farm household characteristics emerge as key factors influencing farmers’ land-use decisions and subsequent land-use patterns. Land reversion and abandonment in the study area have been significantly affected by the GFG program. Policy recommendations suggest potential avenues to enhance the effectiveness of the GFG program and to improve the efficient use of under-used farmland. Results may help inform the Chinese government as it crafts policy guiding a coupled rural migration and reforestation program of unprecedented scale.